Do you find the world a fascinating place? How many worlds are there out there? There are so many amazing things going on in the world, so many facts to learn and so many mysteries to solve. So join my Worlds of Fascination for a articles on everything from the profound to the trivial, the odd to the mysterious.

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

The practice of meditation is a personal journey inwards in
order to find a new sense of serenity and joy, and also to learn more about
ourselves and to promote our spiritual growth.
There are very many different ways of meditating and all religions have
their own practices and prayer rituals designed to create stillness and
contentment within and to help develop your own direct contact with the
spiritual world. Although many types of
meditation involve sitting in silence and solitude, there are also forms of
meditation that involve movement, and walking a labyrinth is one of them.
People often confuse labyrinths with mazes, but whereas mazes are designed to
confuse, get people lost and have many dead-ends, a labyrinth only ever has a
single path that always leads you towards the centre. Labyrinths are not
supposed to be difficult to find your way through, as the walker may be lost deep
in prayer or meditation.

Walking A Labyrinth

The three classical designs of a labyrinth are seven
circuit, eleven circuit and twelve circuit.
These are regarded as spiritually powerful patterns as when they are
being walked, the backwards and forwards route that turns the walker 180
degrees when they go into another circuit, can encourage their awareness to shift
between the two sides of their brain. This can lead to experiencing deep states
of meditation, even a hypnotic trance, which can help the walker on their inner
journey. Once the centre of the
labyrinth has been gained, it could be an opportunity to spend some more time
in contemplation or even to sing and dance.
The same path has to be retraced to get out, which reinforces the key
insights gained on your journey to your centre. The seven circuit layout has
been known since Greek and Roman times, and appeared as decoration on coins,
wall paintings, baskets, pots and is seen in early depictions of body art from
as early as 430 BC. In Roman times,
labyrinths were created from tiles or mosaic on the walls or floors of their
villas, but these appeared to be mainly for decorative or symbolic purposes.

The Labyrinth of the
Minotaur

Labyrinths are very powerful, sacred spaces and have been
used since ancient times, and they are represented in many of the great ancient
civilisations including the Celts, Ancient Greeks and the Native American
Indians. Perhaps one of the best known
labyrinths from antiquity, although a legendary one, is the massive one
constructed by Daedalus in order to contain the Minotaur, the monstrous half
bull/half man, at the palace of King Minos in Crete. The Greek hero Theseus managed to kill the
Minotaur, but the labyrinth was so convoluted and tricky, that he had to be
aided by King Minos’s daughter Ariadne, who gave him a ball of thread which he
could use to find his way back out again. As her reward, the gallant Theseus
left her as she lay asleep on a beach on the Greek island of Naxos. It is thought
that the location of the Minotaur’s labyrinth was at the Minoan Palace of
Knossos, which was excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in 1900.

Labyrinth at Cathedral in Lucca, Tuscany

The Labyrinth at
Hawara

Another famous ancient labyrinth was situated in Hawara in
the Fayoum in Egypt and is thought to have been the galleries, chambers and
passages of a huge funerary temple complex attached to the pyramid of the
Middle Kingdom pharaoh Amenemhat III.
This great structure was described by ancient writers such as Herodotus
and Strabo as containing as many as 3,000 rooms all of which were elaborately
decorated with images and hieroglyphic texts.
The exact location of this ancient labyrinth has been lost since
antiquity, but modern archaeological expeditions, such as the Mataha Expedition
to Hawara in 2008, have been slowly uncovering what remains of this vast
ancient complex using modern technology.

Labyrinths in the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages in Europe was the time when the great Gothic
cathedrals were built and pilgrimages to holy shrines were considered to be an
important part of spiritual life. For those
who could not travel many of these vast stone cathedrals had labyrinths created
in them, carved into the stones of the floors, which allowed the worshipper to
walk in meditation, prayer or repentance in lieu of undertaking an arduous and potentially
expensive pilgrimage. It is known that
the clergy would dance in the labyrinths during the Easter season and they were
also thought to be symbolic of the long and difficult journeys that many
pilgrims had undergone to visit the shrines housed in the cathedrals. Many of
these labyrinths have either been removed or destroyed over the centuries, but
a very good example still survives in Chartres Cathedral. The Chartres Cathedral labyrinth was created
on the floor of the nave below the famous Rose Window over the West Door during
the early years of the 13th century and is an eleven circuit
labyrinth divided into quadrants.

Labyrinths and the Inner Journey

Labyrinths have enjoyed something of a revival in recent
years, as people in the West have started exploring meditation and the inner
journey in greater numbers. If you want
to undertake this form of walking meditation, you can create your own temporary
labyrinth on the floor with sand, flour, masking tape or string. If you want something a bit more permanent,
you could paint one on some canvas or even a sheet to lie down across the
ground when you needed it. And, of
course, real devotees with the space and money could have one carved into the
floor, marked out with stones or even a topiary labyrinth planted in the back
garden.

Remember though that although labyrinths always lead you to the
same place, the very centre, that your own journey to get there will be unique
and personal to you. This is not
something that you can do ‘wrong’ and every time that you undertake the journey
it will be different. It can be likened
to your life path, and the deeper you penetrate into the labyrinth, the closer
that you will come to the meaning and centre of your current existence. If you
are meditating and walking as a group it can be very beneficial and interesting
to share your experiences, but do not allow yourself to be pressured to do so
and never compare your experience to someone else’s. You are at your own unique point in your spiritual
journey and the speed at which you move and what your soul chooses to experience
is a very individual and sacred choice.

Saturday, 26 November 2011

Have you ever heard of the Permian Mass Extinction, also
known as the ‘Great Dying’? If you are
worried by the prophecies that the world as we know it is going to end in 2012,
you may not be too cheered by the fact that our planet has already undergone
several mass extinctions where a significant percentage of all the animal and
plant species then alive were suddenly wiped off the face of the Earth. The
mass extinction that we are all perhaps the most familiar with is that of the
dinosaurs 65 million years ago, when 70% of all the species on the Earth died
out. However, the Permian Mass Extinction was even more devastating to our
planet, and yet many people have never heard of this sudden period of mass
destruction. The Permian Mass Extinction occurred around 251.4 million years
ago and constitutes the borderline between the Permian and Triassic
periods. During the Permian, there was
only one big land mass, known as the super-continent Pangaea and the
destruction of species was savage, with 70% of terrestrial vertebrates
disappearing, 96% of all marine species disappearing, and what is thought to be
the only mass extinction of insect species in the planet’s long history occurring. The destruction of species was so complete
that it took the Earth from 4-6 million years to recover, and when it did the
foundations had been laid for the dawn of the age of the dinosaurs. So what
could possibly have caused this disaster and wreaked such a trail of total
destruction? The Permian Mass Extinction
has baffled scientists, and there have been many theories put forward as to
what natural event or chain of events could possibly have caused this maelstrom.

What Are The Possible Causes of the Permian Extinction?

So what type of natural disaster could have triggered what
is known as the ‘Great Dying’? Globally most complex ecosystems were destroyed,
and with only 5% of all species surviving there was a huge question mark as to
whether life on Earth could continue to survive at all. It is believed that the
extinction event that led to the end of the dinosaurs was a huge impact event;
with the impact of a huge asteroid or comet hitting the earth and triggering
global destruction. So could an impact event have been the cause of the Permian
Mass Extinction? Many scientists have combed the surface of the Earth for
evidence of an impact crater that was large enough to have been the catalyst.
One of the problems that they have encountered is the huge 250 million time gap
between then and now. There is every chance that the impact crater simply no
longer exists. Around 70% of the world’s surface is covered by the oceans, and
no part of the ocean floor is older than 200 million years old. This is because
the sea floor is destroyed by spreading and subduction, and it has been
surmised that extensive lava flow could also have concealed any large crater
site.

Basalt Lava Flow

Could A Meteorite Impact Have Caused The Permian Mass
Extinction?

So evidence of an impact event at the Permian-Triassic
boundary is sparse. In 2001 a team from the University of Washington, led by
Luanne Becker, published a paper that outlined their discoveries of
extraterrestrial argon and helium in rocks of the right age in Japan and China.
These two gases were found trapped in something called fullerenes or
buckyballs, which are often linked to debris from meteor impacts. The team’s
findings were brought into question by other scientists, but they have stood by
their findings. There are also a couple of possible sites that have been
proposed as the point of impact 250 million years ago. One of these is the
Bedout High off the coast of northwest Australia, which is a 30km in diameter
circular area where older rocks have been uplifted by as much as 4 km towards
the surface. It has been theorised that the Bedout High may be the centre of a
huge buried impact crater that dates towards the end of the Permian period.
Another proposed impact site is in Antarctica and is known as the Wilkes Land
crater, which is actually two hypothetical giant crater impact sites that are
hidden deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheets.
Both of these locations have been questioned by the experts, as it has
been queried as to whether the geological structures were really caused by
meteorite or asteroid hits.

Did Massive Volcanic Eruptions Trigger the ‘Great Dying’

Can you imagine huge volcanic eruptions that carried on for
over half-a-million years? Well the close of the Permian period was marked by
massive volcanic events. This type of sustained volcanic activity could have
accelerated massive global climate changes, covered huge areas with boiling hot
volcanic rock and released tremendous amounts of poisonous gases and ash into
the atmosphere. What remains of some of these ancient volcanic eruptions are
known as the Siberian Traps, where around two million square kilometres of what
now is Eastern Russia was covered with basalt lava. Usually, these are not the type of explosive
volcanic eruptions that form the tall cone-shaped volcanoes that most of us are
familiar with, but rather huge amounts of basalt lava is pushed out through
long fissures in the rocks spreads across large areas. However, there is
evidence from the Siberian Traps, in the form of a large amount of pyroclastic
deposits in comparison with other basalt floods, that these eruptions were very
explosive pumping vast quantities of gases and ash into the atmosphere.
However, again scientists have questioned whether these volcanic eruptions,
long lasting and as explosive as they were, would have been enough to cause the
extinction on the scale of the ‘Great Dying’.

However, there is new evidence that these massive volcanic
eruptions could have been the cause of the Permian Mass Extinction after
all. Scientists from the University of
Calgary have discovered layers of coal ash in the rocks dating to the
Permian-Triassic boundary in the Canadian Arctic, which they believe were
deposited as the result of massive coal combustion that was set off by the
volcanic activity. This widespread coal fire would have been responsible for
the emission of large quantities of greenhouse gases, at a time when the Earth
was suffering from a decrease in oxygen levels, acid rainfall and the effects
of massive amounts of toxic ash in the air.

So although it may never be conclusively proved that massive
volcanic eruptions are what were responsible for the Permian Mass extinctions,
there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that this is the case. However an impact event as the trigger cannot
be totally discounted and it may well be that the meteorite or asteroid comet
impact was what started off the catastrophic volcanic activity. No doubt the Earth will continue to yield new
evidence as to what was the cause of this greatest of mass extinctions, and
that one day the full story will be known.

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

‘If music be the food of love, play on!’ proclaimed Count
Orsino as the iconic opening line of William Shakespeare’s famous play ’Twelfth
Night’. But what is the meaning of the Twelfth
Night and what are the origins, history and traditions behind The Twelve Days
of Christmas?

Traditionally, the Twelve Days of Christmas begin with
Christmas Day as the first day and end on the eve of Epiphany on 5th
December. The Twelve Days of Christmas
are celebrated very differently from country to country, as in some places they
give gifts on Christmas Day, in some gifts are given on Twelfth Night and in
some places gifts are given on each of the twelve days. As this time of year is the darkest in the
northern hemisphere bringing the light back is a very important part of the
traditions, so in some countries a candle is lit on each of the days and there
is also a tradition of lighting a Yule Log on the first night of Christmas and
letting it burn until Twelfth Night. Celebrating
for twelve days at the this time of year, the time of the Winter Equinox, has
its origins way back in pagan traditions and the Roman festival of Saturnalia.

During the Middle Ages the Twelve Days of Christmas was a
time of great celebration and there would be feasting on every day and long
into the night. The climax of the
Christmastide celebrations was the festivities of Twelfth Night. A Lord of Misrule would have been chosen and
he was responsible for overseeing all of the feasting and revelries during the
Christmas period. The Lord of Misrule
was generally a peasant, and was known as the Prince des Sots in France, the
Abbot of Unreason in Scotland and a Boy Bishop was appointed for festivities
run by the Catholic Church. The
celebrations held during the Twelve Days of Christmas were often drunken, debauched,
wild affairs, and it was the job of the Lord of Misrule to try and create as
much mayhem as possible and disrupt the normal, smooth running of the household. Another tradition was that the Lords and
Ladies switched places with the servants and peasants so they in turn had their chance of living the
high life for a few hours! A cake, known
as the King cake, would have been specially baked for the Twelfth Night
celebrations that contained a bean or a small bauble, and the reveller who got
the piece of cake would have to do certain things and received various
privileges. The rule of the Lord of
Misrule ended at midnight and normal service resumed!

Twelfth Night Merrymaking in Farmer Shakeshaft's Barn

A special alcoholic drink called wassail was prepared to be
drunk during The Twelve Days of Christmas, and especially on Twelfth
Night. Wassail was a hot, spicy punch
and the practice of wassailing is toasting the gods to ask for abundance
and a good harvest. In the Middle Ages in
Europe, the ingredients of the wassail would have included sugar, which was a
rare and expensive commodity back then, nutmeg, ginger, ale and cinnamon. These would have all been put into a large
bowl, heated up and then had ‘sops’ of toasted bread placed on top. Another festive sweet treat was mince pies, which have been eaten during the Christmas season since the 16th century. Tradition has it that if you eat a mince pie on each of the twelve days then the following twelve months will exceptionally happy. The
celebration of Epiphany, where the Three Wise Men or ‘Magi’ arrived to give
gifts of gold, frankincense or myrrh to the infant Jesus, is an important
occasion in some countries. In Spain
they have processions with people dressed as the Three Kings who throw out
sweets for the children in the crowd to catch.

It is believed that the traditions of The Twelve Days of
Christmas were taken to America by the early Colonists. They probably started the tradition of
hanging evergreen wreaths on the front door of their houses during the Festive
Season. They would create a wreath from
local produce and greenery on Christmas Eve, and then hang it out on the first
day of Christmas and would bring it back in on the morning of Epiphany. It is still a common tradition in England and
other parts of the world that all Christmas decorations and Christmas Trees have
to be taken down by 6th January, which is Epiphany, and that any
festive food that remained had to be eaten or stored away. It is considered to be bad luck if any
decorations are left hanging after that date, but if they are not down by
Twelfth Night to stave off that bad luck
they are supposed to be left hanging for the rest of the year. In earlier times the evergreen wreaths and
garlands would have been left in place until Candlemas which is the 2nd
January. The bad luck was supposed to
stem from the spirits of the holly, ivy, mistletoe and other Christmas greenery. These plant spirits were said to be happy to
be in the warmth and comfort of the house during the snow and frost of the mid-winter,
but once the milder days returned they wanted to go back outside where they
belonged in nature. It was said that if
they were not returned to the woods and hedgerows all the plants and leaves
would not start to grow again and the spring would not come back again, causing
great hardship for all.

There is an English Christmas Carol called ‘The Twelve Days
of Christmas’ that enumerates the gifts that a very special someone received on
each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It
starts with a ‘Partridge in A Pear Tree’ on the first day and ends with ‘Twelve
Drummers Drumming’ on the twelfth day.
In my experience most people know the words up until the fifth day, but
once past the golden rings they tend to start getting their ‘Lords a-Leaping’
and ‘Maids a-Milking’ pretty mixed up.
It also depends how much wine was consumed with Christmas Dinner! The carol may have been French in origin, and
could date back until the 16th century, but was first published in
England in 1780.

It is believed that this famous carol first started out as a
memory game that was played by the revellers who attended Twelfth Night feasts. The participants in the game would have to
remember all of the earlier verses that had been sung and then add a verse on
the end. If they failed to remember the
verses, they would most likely have to pay a forfeit, such as giving someone a
kiss or giving a sweetmeat to another reveller. The lyrics of the carol are also
said to contain religious symbolism, such as the ‘Seven Swans a-Swimming’
referring to the seven sacraments of the Church, or the seven gifts of the Holy
Spirit. This may have originated from
the time when the Roman Catholic Church was being suppressed in England, and
needed to pass on the Catholic faith in a hidden manner, such as in the words
of a popular song, although there is no evidence to support this.

So when you find yourself singing this popular carol this
Christmas season, or you start to get anxious about getting your Christmas
Decorations down on time, stop and take some time out to remember the history
and traditions of The Twelve Days of Christmas and where these seasonal customs
came from.

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About Me

Writer, blogger and hypnotherapist.
Author of the Aten Sequence Books - science fantasy books for young adults set in Ancient Egypt. The first in the series, Pharaoh's Gold, is now available to download at Amazon